This is the blog of Abhijit Bhaduri the author of the novel Mediocre But Arrogant and now the soon-to-be published sequel titled Married But Available (another M-B-A)! It is a funny story of how an unambitious undergrad from Delhi Univ lands up in the highly competitive Management Institute of Jamshedpur (MIJ), India. How the two years in B-School change him, his dreams and his relationships. MARRIED BUT AVAILABLE is about the first decade that Abbey spends in corporate India.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Promo No Mo

For the last couple of years (well, it almost seems like forever) I have been subjected to this endless stream of promos of two films - Om Shanti Om and Saawariya. The beautiful people were all over the television channels. Heck... who paid for the promo budgets of these films? Bill Gates and Mukesh Ambani ? Two rich dudes promoting two film promos. Me thinks that is very likely.

It all began few years back by a grand announcement. We were told that this year on Friday 9th November 2007, two new stars are going to be born. It is not as if we are running two humans short on this planet. Yet we have to all make place for Sonam and Ranbir Kapoor. After all they are both pedigreed stars the media told us. He is Rishi Kapoor's son - no mention of Neetu Singh. Ranbir Kapoor looks to be more of the Neetu Singh clan than Raj Kapoor. Cut to the music. We have all been hearing the title song a million times a day so much that even I can sing the first fifteen seconds of that song "Saawariyah ah ah ahh... Saawariya ah aa a Saawariya". My neighbor's precocious twelve year old showed me how I had to do some shadow boxing while I sang this song. "Ranbir is cute... I think... my sister likes him, but Shah Rukh has more fans. All my sisters friends and their moms loves Shah Rukh. So more people will see OSO." Here is a budding critic's summary of market research.

I admit I am not much into creepy crawlies. Every now and then while I surf the channels I will come across a promo of Saawariya that ends with creepy crawlies emerging out of the artwork. Some channels have these creepy crawlies hanging discreetly behind the channel logo. IS OSO better than S'a? Is Deepika cuter than Sonam?? Is SRK's six pack for real or is it courtesy Photoshop? The nation is truly grappling with serious issues like these.

OK these promos have been successful in building awareness but guys gimme a break. I can't watch the news channel without running into some blatant infomercial. All news bulletins end with the two film's revenues being discussed in the same breath as the nation's GDP. Promo - no mo.

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Abhijit Bhaduri

About Me

Abhijit Bhaduri is the Chief Learning Officer of Wipro Ltd and is based out of Bangalore,India. He did his Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce, India and Post Graduation in Human Resources from Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur, India. He also has a Bachelors degree in Law from the University of Delhi. He loves theatre and has acted in plays staged in India, Kuala Lumpur and US.
He hosted a popular radio show in US, about classic Hindi movies and film music. The ever popular B School novel - MEDIOCRE BUT ARROGANT is his debut novel. The sequel MARRIED BUT AVAILABLE has also been featured in several bestseller lists.
He can be reached at abhijitbhaduri@live.com
Visit his webpage at http://abhijitbhaduri.com/